Weight-indicator for weighing-scales.



PATENTED OCT. 3, 1905.

. D. E. GURTIN.

WEIGHT INDICATOR FOR WBIGHING SCALES.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 4,1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

luvs/v70 DAVID F. CURTIN ATTORNEYS No. 800,632. PATENTED 00113, 1905.

D. F. GURTIN.

WEIGHT INDICATOR FOR WEIGHING SCALES.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.4.1905.

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7: INVENTOH fl\' DAVID FOUR-FIN ATTORNEYS the dealer when the requisite quantity of ma- .terial is nearly on the scales, so that he may I UNITED STATES.

PATENT OFFICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 3,1905.

Application filed January 4, 1905- Serial No. 239,567.

To all whom it may concern):

Be it known that I, DAVID F. CURTIN, a citizen of the United States, residing atChicago,

in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Weight-Indicators for Weighing-Scales, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is in the nature of an attach; ment to weighing-scales designed to give notice to the dealer when the approximate quantity of material is on his scales, so that the remaining portion may be carefully poured to avoid overplus. This overplus of weight, which is frequently given, especially in busy times, is a serious factor of loss, especially in such commodities as sugar, where the profits are small. On the other hand, if the dealer havingallowed an overplus to get upon-the scales undertakes to takeout the overplus this is usually interpreted as an act of parsi-v mony, and in addition to the time it takes to make several tentative efforts at a balance it is very probable that the paper bag will be split by the scoop in the eflort to take out the overplus. It will be seen, therefore, that a simple and reliable means for indicating to carefully pourthe rest, is a very great desideratum. In my priorpatent, No. 779,993,

granted January 10, 1905, I have shown and described an attachment to accomplish this result which was designed for platform-scales having one horizontally-extended scale-beam.

My present invention is designed to provide an attachment applicable to even -balance scales in which .the scale-beam is fulcrumed in the middle and bears" a scoop on one end and a weight-tray on the other and in which the commodity is balanced by counterweights.

My invention consists in the novel construction and arrangement of parts of the attachment and in their combination with, the even-balance scales, which I will now proceed to describe with reference to the drawings, in

which- Figure 1 is an elevation of the even-balance scales with the casing and parts of my attachments in section. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the indicator mechanism, partly broken away and with the casing removed. Fig. 3 is a side view of the same with casing on. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the indicator-dial. Fig. 5 is a detail of amodification of the initially-acting spring,

' by short posts d d.

and Figs. 6 and 7 are modifications of the actuating mechanism for the indicator-hand.

In the drawing Fig. 1, Arepresents the central fulcrum-post, and B the scale-beam, which is fulcrumed in the middle upon the post A and bears at one end the scoop-holder a and at the other end the weight-tray I), on which are placed the detachable weights to balance the goods to be weighed in the scoop. It is this type of even-balance counter-scales for which my present invention is especially designed.

My indicator attachment is mounted on some stationarypart of the fulcrum-post A and consists of a horizontal stationary clamp-plate C, suitably connected to the fulcrum-post and having two or more upright adjustable pillars c. c' which support'at the top alight metal frame composed of a horizontal bar D, having downturned ends d 01 and a short subjacent and parallel bar D, connected to the bar D Between the bars D and D are arranged a horizontal gear-wheel E and a small drum E, rigidly secured to the-same shaft as the gear-wheel E, which shaft is jour-' naled in bearings in the upper and lower bars D and D. Meshing with the gear-wheel Eis a small pinion e, fixed on a vertical shaft 0. This shaft 6 extends above the bar D and enters a circular case F. This case is screwed to the downturned ends d d of the bar D or is otherwise secured to the rigid frame and bears on the top a horizontal dial F and a glass face F On the shaft a and within the case between the glass face and the dial is an index-hand G.

- On the scale-beam B and moving with it is mounted a'plate H, which extends on each side of the fulcrum of the scale-beam and bears at its outer end upright posts it It, which are screw-threaded at their lower ends and have at the bottom milled heads and check-nuts h, by which they areadjustalily secured to the supporting-plate To the upper ends of these posts are attached the ends of a flexible cord 2', which is wound around the drum E of the gear-wheel E To tighten and ad uSt this cord on the drum, the posts h are turned axially and fixed in proper position by means of the check-nuts.

It will be seen that one of the posts is on one side of the fulcrum of the scale-beam and the other is on the opposite side, and as the posts, together with the plate H, are rigidly attached to the scale-beam it follows that when the scalebeam moves about its fulcrum-center one of these posts approaches and the other recedes from the drum. This causes the cord to be wound upon one side and unwound on the other, and this imparts a rotary motion to the gear-wheel, pinion, and index-hand, causing the latter to be deflected over the graduated dial. The--index-hand on the dial will thus indicate with an amplified range the movement of the scale-beam. 4

The scale-beam in Weighing comes to a balance when it reaches the horizontal line, and when the weights are on the weight-tray this end of the beam'is down, as in Fig. 1, and the other end descends to the horizontal even-balance position whenever the requisite quantity of material is put into the scoop on said other end of the beam. Now to give notice when the approximate quantity of material is on the scales,.so that the rest may be poured carefully and no overplus be allowed to get on, it is necessary to slightly lift the beam on the weight side of the fulcrum.'and to prevent falsifying the weighing this lifting action must cease just after the weight end of the beam begins to rise and before a true poise on the horizontal line is attained. Foro this purpose I place under the scale-beam,

near the weight-tray, a spring whose efi ect is to lift the weight end of the scale-beam through the initial part of 'its rise and then lose its influence thereon just before the horizontal balance position is attained. This spring may be arranged in two different positions to act upon the scale-beam to produce thesame result The preferred application is shown in Fig. 1, and it is arranged as follows: An upright cylindrical casing ll is mounted on the base of the scales near the weight-tray end of the beam, and in it is housed a spiral spring I. On top of this spring rides a block 1 through which passes a screw-threadedstem P, which is vertically adjustable through said block. This screwstem is so adjusted in its block that it will touch the weight end of the beam and press it upward with a regulated tension during the first part of its upward movement, and then for the balance of the Way up the tension of the spring is fully expended, and the scalebeam as it approaches the horizontal balance position will leave the stem 1 and be wholly disconnected therefrom and independent of its action, so that correct weighing is not interfered with. By the use of springs of different strength, but same diameter of coil and same length, the upward pressure on the scalebeam may be varied to lift with any degree of force desired-such as an ounce, a quarterpound, a half-pound, &c.-so that the scalebeam indicator-hand will commence to move ,the scoop comes within an ounce, a quarter,

or a half pound of the requisite weight, and

reached.

then the dealer pours in the balance of the soo,es2

commodity, with such caution as to avoid the overplus, until the true horizontal balance is It will be seen that although the spring becomes disconnected from the scale-beam after the initial rise of the weight end of the scalebeam the indicator hand is never disconnected, and by dividing the dial into two sections, as shown in Fig. 4 by the diagonallyshaded part X and the vertically-shaded part Y, the first part of the movement of the index-hand over the part X of the dial may be made to give warning of the approach of the proper quantity of the commodity, and the continued movement of the hand over the second part Y of the dial will indicate the downweight or .overplus in case too much of the commodity is allowed to. flow into the scoop. In other words, the movement of the indexhand over the first part X of the dial will indicate the approach of the beam toward the true balance and the movement'of the hand over the part Y will indicate the movement of the beam beyond the true-balance position. My attachment therefor not only gives warning of the approach of the requisite quantity of the commodity, but also indicates the overplus, if any is allowed to pass in.

From the foregoing it will be understood that the initially-acting spring must always act against the gravity of the weights and with the gravity of the commodity. lit will be obvious, however, that the character and point of application of this spring may be easily varied without changing the result. The spring already described is an expansionspring, acting to lift the weight end of the beam by expansion. If the spring is located on the opposite side of the'fulcrum, to pull down on the scale-beam it is obvious that the same result is reached. In Fig. 5 I have .shown such a tension-spring. This spring J at its upper end is connected to a stem It, which extends freely through a hole in a horizontal hanger-arm il Atits lower end this spring is anchored to the base by an adjusting-screw J When a the weights are on the opposite end of the beam, the scoop end is up, as shown, and'a head on the stem 7c is causing the spring to pull down on the hanger-bar to the required extent. Vthen the horizontal balance position of the beam is reached, the hanger-bar J leaves the head of the stem /r and moves freely down over the shank of the same without allowing the influence of the spring to be felt on the beam at all.

- For imparting the movement of the scalebeam to the indicator-hand various changes may be made, as seen in Figs. 6 and 7. in Fig. 6 the plate H is rigidly attached to the scale-beam andhas twovarms arranged on opposite sides of the fulcrum of the scale-beam. 0m these arms are mounted posts it IL, which by cords or wires 5" are connected to a horizontal lever L, fulcrumed at Z. This lever has IIO two arms connected by a cord 2', which is wound around the shaft e of the index-hand.

As the scale-beam and plate H tilt together 1 lever L will be deflected and the cord 6 will rotate the index-hand.

In the modification shown in Fig. 7 the cord 1' is directly attached to the two arms of the plate H fixed to the beam, and this cord is wrapped directly around the shaft 6 of the index-hand.

In Figs. 6 and 7.no mechanism is shown for connecting theplates H and H to the scalebeam. They are to be connected in any suitable or desirable way in harmony with the arrangement of plate H. (Shown in Figs. 1 and 3.) It is sufficient to state for the illustration of the modifications, Figs. 6 and 7, that the.

dial-frame F is stationary and the plates H- and move with thescale-beam.

Having thus described my invention, what ...I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with the beam and the central fulcrum-support in an even-balance scales; of a stationary framework mounted upon said support, a horizontal dial mounted thereon, a tilting frame fixed to the scalebeam andextending on both sides of the fulcrum, a flexible cord carried by the tilting frame, a vertical shaft with index-hand arranged on the face of the dial and pivoted in the stationary frame and means for causing the cord to rotate the index'handby the tilting of the frame fixed to the scale-beam sub stantially as described.

2. The combination with the beam and the central fulcrum-support in an even-balance scales; of a stationary framework mounted upon, said support, a horizontal dial mounted thereon, atilting frame fixed to the scale-beam and extending on both sides of its fulcrum, a flexible eordcarried by the tilting frame, a vertical shaft with index-hand arranged on the face of the dial and pivoted in the stationary frame, means for causing the cord to ro.- 'tate the lndex hand by the tilting of the frame fixed to the scale-beam, and a spring arranged to act initially upon the scale-beam in a direction to lift the weights of the weight-tray and thenlose its influence on the scale-beam substantially as described.

3. The combination with the beam and the central fulcrum-support in an even-balance scales; of a stationary framework mounted.

upon said support, a horizontal dialmounted thereon, atilting framefixed to the scale-beam and extending on both sides'of the fulcrum,a.

flexible cord carried by the tilting frame, a

.vertical shaft with index-hand arranged on the face of.the dial and pivoted in the stationary frame, means for causing the cord to rotate the index-hand by the tilting of the frame fixed to the scale-beam, an expansion-spring arranged beneath the weight end of the scalebeam to lift the scale-beam by expanding during the initial portion of its rise substantially as described.

4. The combination with the beam and its central fulcrum-support in an even-balance scales; of a stationary framework mounted upon said support, a horizontal dial mounted thereon, a tilting frame fixed to the scale-beam and extending on both sides of its fulcrum, a flexible cord carried by the tilting frame, a

vertical shaft with index-hand arranged on the face of the dial and pivoted in the stationsite sides of the fulcrum, a cord attached to these posts, a gear-wheel with drum having the cord wrapped around the latter, a vertical shaft with index-hand arranged on the face of the dial and pinion engaging said gearwheel, and means for initially lifting the weight end of thescale-beam substantially as shown and described.

6. The combination with the beam and the central fulcrum-support in an even-balance scales; of aspring arranged beneath the scalebeam for initially lifting the weight end of the. scale-beam and then losing its influence thereon, and an indicator with moving mechanism connected to and actuated by the scale-beam, said indicator having a dial divided into two parts, one of which indicates the movement of the scale-beam under the influence .of the initially-acting lifting device, and the other of which indicates the continued movement of the scale-beam after the lifting device ceases to act on the scale-beam substantially as described.

DAVID F. CURTIN. Witnesses-z SAMUEL WEIs ERe, JOSEPHINE FLYNN.- 

